CM said Fast Pass was being "phased out."

[JLS]

Hi - we went to DL today. I am an AP holder and a huge Fast Pass fan. I think FP is one of the best things ever invented to improve the quality of theme park days. Anyway, my cousin from out of town, who has only been to DL a few times in her life, told me that she overheard a CM telling another family this morning that the reason Nemo and the revamped Pirates ride do not have FP is that Disney is in the process of slowly "phasing out" the FP program.

I did not overhear the comment and keep in mind that my cousin who did hear it is a complete Disney novice. My reaction to this was - NO WAY, that is not true! But my knowledge is usually only as good as what I hear on these boards, so I put it to you experts. What's the real story?

Thanks! I truly hope this is not true. In my experience, the only people who don't like FP are those who have never figured out how to use it to their advantage or those who are not willing to do a little advanced planning.

 

[VWCat]

ewwww,we thought the fastpass was awesome,that would suck

 

[DangerMouse]

heard this one before IMO, completely untrue and not worth fretting over until I see every last FP machine torn out.

BTW, Pirates does not need FP because it is such a high capacity, fast loading ride. Nemo cannot have FP because it is such a low capacity, slow loading ride. Those are the reasons, not because FP is being "phased out".

 

[VegasMike21]

that would piss a lot of people off, i wouldn't buy into that hype. nemo is not really a "fastpass" ride, since the line is not continuous.

 

[VWCat]

yay happy dance

 

[JadeDarkstar]

That would relly suck and I dont think they would stop doing it when it relly dosent cost them a thing.. I wont buy in to the hype

i do agree nemo isnt fast pass ride..i heard it was becouse how littel subs they had so it couldnt be a fast pass ride

 

[kiwitravel]

As I understand it not all rides are suitable for FP, only fast loading rides like Space, Splash, Thunder etc are suitable for FP, rides like POTC and Nemo just don't have the throughput to allow FP to function, the non FP riders would have to wait even longer and the FP tickets would be all gone by 10am. If there was no FP I for one would reconsider going again, I am sure Disney would face a backlash in a reduction in the number of APs and guests in general.

 

[JLS]

I agree that Nemo would not work as a FP ride. POTC certainly could be a FP ride. It has a high loading capacity and they have two ride lines - the line on the left could be FP and the line on the right could be standby, for example. It would be very easy. But it really isn't necessary, since even on busy days the POTC line moves fast and is rarely longer than 20 or 25 minutes.

My theory is that my cousin misunderstood the comments. I believe what was being expressed is that FP has been scaled back somewhat (it used to be offered at more rides), and that it will not be automatically offered for every ride. But the big rides will still have it.

 

[Leofoenget]

my cousin told me that she overheard a CM telling another family

Not the best source of info. Until it happens don't worry

 

[kiwitravel]

In 2004 POTC was a FP line but we never needed a FP to ride, it hadn't been updated at that stage and you could frequently just walk onto it. They probably didn't set it up as FP knowing that it would be too crazy when first reopening but would eventually go back to the way it was after the novelty had worn off.

 

[tinkerbelt]

I wouldn't worry about it, to be honest. The bottom line for Disney is that the less time people are waiting in line for rides, the more time they have to spend money.

I know that they have done various testing lately with regard to fastpass and wait times, but I'm not sure what the end result is suppost to be for this testing. It could be that they are trying to phase it out, but it just seems really unlikely to me. Either way, it doesn't really bother me, because we never use FP when we go, for us, it's more of a hassle than anything else, so we don't bother to use it.

 

[disneyscootergal]

heard this one before IMO, completely untrue and not worth fretting over until I see every last FP machine torn out.

BTW, Pirates does not need FP because it is such a high capacity, fast loading ride. Nemo cannot have FP because it is such a low capacity, slow loading ride. Those are the reasons, not because FP is being "phased out".

This sounds very logical, so I am believing it. And also because losing the fast passes would make me --I love that system!!

 

[PocahontasLookALike]

Sounds like another Disney Urban Myth

 

[PrincessSitka]

if that is the case what will they do with the long lines? People will not want to go to Disneyland if they keep haveing these long line. And I am a disney nut but the line are out of hand already

 

[Snookies]

Just chiming in with another don't worry about it. It is true that Pirates used to be a FP attraction, but FP was removed from Pirates at DLR long before the relatively recent refurbishment. Many of the attractions at DLR that used to use FP but no longer do (HM is another example) had FP removed for reasons unrelated to this rumour. FYI: FP was removed from these attractions about 3 years ago, starting in Spring or Summer 2004.

 

[thedarksyde]

I don't buy it, I don't think a ground level CM would hear it before us if that were true.

 

[DLR29]

Just chiming in with another don't worry about it. It is true that Pirates used to be a FP attraction, but FP was removed from Pirates at DLR long before the relatively recent refurbishment. Many of the attractions at DLR that used to use FP but no longer do (HM is another example) had FP removed for reasons unrelated to this rumour. FYI: FP was removed from these attractions about 3 years ago, starting in Spring or Summer 2004.

Correct, FP was removed from PotC, HM, Winnie-the-Pooh, Star Tours, It's Tough to be a Bug, Millionaire, MuppetVision, and it was stopped being used for IASWH, though it still is used for HMH. However, I wouldn't worry about any FP rumors. They've been around for a few years.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Well for what it's worth, they just spent a ton of money upgrading WDW's system to bar code. According to gossip and rumor (and we all know how reliable those are,) DLR's brass hates fast pass. But would Disney Corporate would allow DLR to go fast pass free while everyone else keeps it? I wouldn't think so. And if they were phasing it out all over, why would they bother upgrading WDW's system?

The idea that a low throughput ride cannot use fast pass is false. The simple fact remains MK's Peter Pan uses fast pass and uses it quite well I might add. It's stand by waits do not build any more than those on the same ride at DL. And in fact the DL builds longer stand by waits early. It's all a function of figuring out how many fast pass returns to give out for each time frame and finding the right mix ratio. The subs would overwhelm it right now, but they're overwhelming things as they are and would overwhelm anything.

 

[fairycat]

From what I have read and heard there was talk of phasing out FP because it didn't have the original desired intent (not waiting in lines=more shopping), this and lack of need caused two rides to lose there FP POTC and HM (though I think in Peak HM occassionally in the past has had FP re-started).

But I think that guests spoke and they are keeping the rides that currently have it with FP. I seriously can't see it being worth it to take it off there major players (Splash and Space Mountains especially).

Personally I think they are here to stay and until I see the FP machines come of one of the Mountains I won't worry about them leaving.